Help! Keeping the kids busy this summer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Alexis Marshall) -- The Frist Center for Visual Arts in downtown Nashville is a popular spot for field trips and families all over the mid-state. This is due in part to the Martin ArtQuest Gallery, which allows patrons to create their own art using materials they ordinarily wouldn’t have access to.

According to the Frist’s Assistant Director for Experiential Learning, Samantha Andrews, the gallery is exceptionally popular among children, but anybody can tag along.

"Lots of people may think that ArtQuest is the children's space, but it really isn't. It's designed to be an intergenerational space... We can accommodate just about anyone, and anyone can enjoy ArtQuest," Andrew said.

Andrews said that the gallery is also a popular destination for dates, people with special needs and senior citizens’ groups.

Over a million visitors have come to the gallery since it opened in 2001. Andrews said it gives people way to interact with the art they see at other exhibitions in the museum

Credit fristcenter.org

"Whenever people come into ArtQuest, they see how accessible art making is. It's not just for artists, that just about anybody can do it and that everybody can have an opportunity to be creative," Andrews said.

The ArtQuest gallery offers activities that correlate with other exhibitions in the museum. Right now it features a station where guests can weave ribbons and pieces of fabric through a webbing material. Andrews said this activity gives people the ability to connect with Vadis Turner's exhibition Tempest by using similar supplies and techniques.

After 16 years of continuous operation, ArtQuest is due for a renovation. Andrews said they're looking at incorporating more multi-media and collaborative opportunities. For those who like ArtQuest as it is, Andrews said:

"All of those things that people really love about artQuest painting, print making, all of those things will still be there... We know ArtQuest is special to a lot of people and that it is't broken. That what we're doing

Credit fristcenter.org

is still really relevant, that people love it, and we just want to improve upon it. So that's what we're gonna do."